The Island of Missing Trees

If you told me someone could write a book that I would like about love, family, generational trauma, identity, and belonging from the perspective of fig tree, I wouldn't believe you. Yet Elif Shafak's writing is so devastating, powerful, and imaginative, that I often had to put the book down so I could let what I was reading sink in.

The Turkish invasion of Cyprus happened fifty years ago, and was an event that tore families and friends apart, with groups previously living in harmony committing tremendous acts of violence against one other; a poignant lesson in 2024. Fifty years is no time at all, and this book is a stark reminder that our lives could change based on the whim of a few men.

If you want to read a heartwarming, heartbreaking, and somehow optimistic and amusing book about how people find joy and love during war, this is it.